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The last time we saw Lucky's on ChocolateMission I gave you all my thoughts on the new Mad Hatter Bar flavours just released (See HERE). In those reviews I constantly referred back to my first ever post about Lucky's, where I reviewed the Lucky's Honey Time Gift Selection (See HERE) where I awarded a very impressive 9.2 out of 10 rating. Well in addition to the new Mad Hatter Bar flavours, Lucky's also decided it appropriate to update their Honey Time offerings, the three of which I will showcase for you today.
As you can see from the photos these came to me in a very fancy looking gift set box that was decorated beautifully with the Lucky's branding and Alice in Wonderland themed patterns and logos. Inside the chunky 95.0g cakes were held in place by a bizzare, yet still rather cool furry shelf. The packaging was altogether odd in style, but ultimately very premium looking. This uniqueness is something I can only imagine will benefit Lucky's as they grow as a company. I'm not sure the style is going to be to everyone's taste but one thing that is for definite is that it will make them stand out from the crowd.
Unlike before I have decided to review these cakes individually as they are also available to buy in this manner. You can see them on the Lucky's website HERE for further details.
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Coco Rush - 'Spiced honey cake with coconut cream covered in dark chocolate'. I probably needn't remind you that all these cakes featured today were made with Valrhona chocolate exteriors and Luckys's top secret recipe spiced honey cake. This dark chocolate cake was one that took my fancy from the off and I couldn't wait to get stuck into it. Whilst doing the photography the awesome coconutty smells that greeted me nicely set my expectations for the taste test that quickly followed. The dark chocolate was every bit as good as expected, and it's thick shell implementation nicely established a grand set of unsweetened cocoa flavours which complimented the sweet cake and filling quite superbly. Not to be outdone by the chocolate, the cake was sweet and spicy in taste and was nicely moistened by the coconut cream that lay on top. The coconut filling itself delivered what it promised with it's milky sweet nut flavours, though it did come come across my mind that it wasn't quite the standard of William Curley's Bounty Bar coconut ganache. Altogether this was a delicious cake and one I got a great deal of satisfaction from. Recommended for you coconut fans.
8.4 out of 10
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Lazy Rabbit - 'Spiced honey cake with Bailey's & walnuts covered in milk chocolate'. Out of all the three cakes this was probably the one that had myself and my tasting panel most intrigued. My last experience with a Bailey's flavoured cake product was a Christmas themed McVitie's offering which proved to be a tad underwhelming (See HERE). If you have learnt anything about Lucky's so far, you will understand that 'underwhelming' isn't a word that is often suitable for this brand - this cake was far, far superior! The thick outer shell of milk chocolate broke with a beautiful elegance, and I didn't have to wait long for the expected creamy, silky cocoa flavours to make themselves known amongst the cinnamon spiced flavours of the honey noted cake. Hopefully you can see from my photo that the Bailey's and Walnut layer was very generously portioned. This was especially so at the centre of the cake where the filling oozed out uncontrollably as I bit in to it (messy business :D ) - oh my was it delicious! Adding further to the creaminess of the chocolate, the Bailey's element came through with just the slightest boozieness that combined with the surprisingly strong savoury butteryness of the walnuts offered a simply sensational flavour experience. The Bailey's contribution to the taste was for me spot on - neither too dominant or too weak. Highly recommended for any Bailey's lover.
8.9 out of 10
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Hurry Bunny - 'Spiced honey cake with blueberry covered in white chocolate'.chocolate'. Being a big fan of fruit flavoured chocolates (especially blueberries and white chocolate!) I was never going to get this one past my mother who I drafted in especially to help me review this one. Just like the other two above this was the most perfect looking cake and looked stunning when cross-sectioned with it's clean cut glistening chocolate shell and ruby red compote filling just begging to be released. As we all know, I'm not great lover of white chocolate but even I appreciated the subtly of the milky vanilla flavours of the hefty Valrhona 35.0% coating. The chocolate was great, but this Hurry Bunny was all about the way the different components combined. The creaminess of the chocolate, the slight spice of the buttery cake and red fruit flavours of the blueberries made for the most sensational taste. The mouth feel created by the sticky, cool tempered jam compote was just another bonus within what was all round a sensational cake. Suffice to say Mummy ChocolateMission was rather pleased with this one and gave it a massive thumbs up :D
8.9 out of 10
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Overall these were another very fine selection of cakes from Lucky's that I whole heartedly recommend. The feedback left from people in my last Lucky's review was that they were over expensive, and though I can't disagree that they are very, very dear, I believe that as a one off treat you can't find a more unique cake experience than what these have to offer. It's worth remembering that Lucky's don't position themselves as an everyday cake brand and thank heavens they don't - we have enough of them already. Lucky's want to be known for luxury, and judging by these cakes I can't deny them that.
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60 comments:
Omg those photos of your's are just amazing man. I looked back at some of your older reviews the other day and the quality of your photography have improved so much over time. Fantastic stuff Jim.
I still don't believe that Luckys should be charging anything like they do but I will say these are stunning looking cakes so hats off to them.
For the Attn of Lucky's:
CUT YOUR PRICES and make a cake that has a vanilla filling with white chocolate ;)
Jim with this mini heat wave you should have been posting some ice cream reviews.
I had this new ice cream called choca block from Tesco last night. The cookie dough flavour was surp\risingly good. Not as good as ben and jerrys but it was half price so I shan't complain.
I'm in desperate need for some cake now. I always like my spiced cake with fruit it in. It would have been good to see some sort of raisins or sultanas in there, I always think they work well.
I think you have taken the word foodporn to unseen before levels with these photos today Jim. I would day these look even better than the brownie ones you did last week and even they had me nearly licking my screen.
Dx
Baileys cake - Yep
Coconut cake - No
Jam Cake - OH YES!!!!!!!
I do like the sound of the fruit compote and white chocolate combo. Thats the most appetising one out of this lot for me. Great review fella.
The coconut cake looks the nicest out of all of these to me. I don't get what you are saying about the William Curley thing though? I've had a look and you haven't posted about a coconut one from them. Whats going on?
The profit margins on these cakes must be incredible. I know they are handmade and everything but come on. They can't be that much to produce each.
If they are selling them for that much each I think they must be making upwards of £5 a cake? I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case.
The most epic cake ever would be one with a peanut butter filling.
If they made it exactly like the baileys one with the walnuts and stuff don't you think that would be so awesome. I know Jim will be agreeing with me lol. Best.Cake.Ever.
Way to completely ruin any chance of anyone buying you by pricing yourselves out the market.
That pricing architecture is a total joke. How the blazes they think they can get away with that I don't know. Come on Lucky's! Get real!
Are these freshly made to order or do they carry back up stock. They are sold out most these flavours from what their website says.
I can't reiterate the point enough that you need to do some Valrhona chocolate reviews when they are on their own. It doesn't appear like you need much convincing if your reviews here are anything to go by. I think they are a french brand you know. It's not often you see that now.
Jim you have to pick one :) Stop fence sitting - which was the best m8????
Fab reviews Jim. Do us one more on the humpty dumpty chocolate egg and I will proclaim you the best reviewer ever :)
I love the look of these cakes they are just so unlike anything I've seen before. The whole Alice in Wonderland rooting is such a good idea, there are endless amounts of different things they can do with it and theres nothing stopping them extending across to other classics.
Thanks so much for these reviews Jim. It's these quirky ones that I enjoy the most tbh with you. Not those mass market snorefest chocolates.
Jim you said that Luckys were going to get in touch with us on the reviews of the brownies! I would still love to hear what they think about our comments about how much they charge.
I don't want to be too critical, im just desperate to hear how they believe they can charge eight quid for a single cake.
Amazing photos today Jim, you've outdone yourself with that one of the baileys cream filling.
Hey J
Are you back our Andy Murray today mate? I saw you mentioned you watched the tennis on another thread! I think he should have the measure of Lopez today. I hope Nadal wins to set up an epic semi.
Speaking of epic. LOL the photos on your mini reviews today are just wicked. You get your dad to do them again or are these Jim Jr specials?
Cheers
N
Ahhhhhhhh Jim not again! Where is Bits and Bobs mate!! Stop doing this to us mate. Bits and Bobs is the best post of the week if you ask me.
Dark choc and coconut isn't one that has me excited but the other two sound gorgeous.
You got yourself a big bailey's fan here :) Anything with it in I'm game for lol.
Similarly I think the blueberry jam and white chocolate sounds good. I like that they didn't just choose the 'easy' option strawberry. I've got no doubt it would have been nice, its just nice to see something a bit different.
I think the heat would spoil these cakes at the moment but once the weather sorts itself out I can see myself trying these. I might just buy the one cake at first just to see what they are like before buying the whole set like here.
I can't tell you how incredible these cakes look in your photos Jim. I wouldn't mind paying £900 for them each if they are really as good looking as these.
Jim have you seen that Thorntons are closing down several of their stores. Like you predicted they are in biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig trouble it seems.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/city-news/2011/06/29/thorntons-to-close-up-to-180-shops-as-carpetright-and-tj-hughes-hit-trouble-115875-23233979/
They are saying its going to cost up to 750 jobs.
Did you ask them about being able to review the humpty dumpty chocolate they make?
I swear its the cutest thing I've ever seen. If it's half as impressive as it looks then it has to be nice. The chestnut praline is also something a little different from the norm. That is something Luckys appear to want to do a lot lol.
Is this the best selection of cakes you've been sent by them or did you prefer aby of the others they sent before.
From an outsiders perspective it looks like this one was very well recieved from yourself. On the others I didn't always get the impression you were happy with all the cakes/brownies you got from them.
One of those cakes with a big blob of cream or vanilla ice cream would be like a dream dessert.
Preferably I would have the white choc one, thought I would happily have either of the other two.
Amazing photos again today Jim. I think someone coined the term superbly the other day with their description of them as food porn lol. I love that term lmao.
The package does sound v expensive but I think they justify to an extent with the way they present it all.
From the looks of the photos the box and everything looks pretty cool and cakes are obviously handmade and look sensational from Jim's pics. Im not sure I can afford them in my current finance situation but hey if I win the lottery I might be a little more open to them.
Is there any way you can customise what three cakes you get or do they come as a set pack? The Baileys and blueberry compote sound good but I wouldn't want the coconut. If I could have it my way I would want two of the white chocolate ones.
Well done Lucky's! The prices might be irking some peeps but you can't argue with those scores. I think they might be worth the 'risk' paying for if they are this good.
I believe that as a one off treat you can't find a more unique cake experience than what these have to offer. It's worth remembering that Lucky's don't position themselves as an everyday cake brand and thank heavens they don't - we have enough of them already. Lucky's want to be known for luxury, and judging by these cakes I can't deny them that.
It's all well and good you saying that but even as a gift they cost just as much as a big box of chocolates.
You must think we are made of money dear ;) We dont all get our chocs for free you know ;P
I believe that as a one off treat you can't find a more unique cake experience than what these have to offer. It's worth remembering that Lucky's don't position themselves as an everyday cake brand and thank heavens they don't - we have enough of them already. Lucky's want to be known for luxury, and judging by these cakes I can't deny them that.
It's all well and good you saying that but even as a gift they cost just as much as a big box of chocolates.
You must think we are made of money dear ;) We dont all get our chocs for free you know ;P
You can talk about how tasty these are all day but its pointless when they are so pricey because no one will ever buy them. I think its such a shame because Lucky's look like they are a company with some fab ideas and the cakes look to be very good quality.
Unless they are planning on just selling to millionaires then this is all just a little pointless.
People are complaining about the price today but I prefer to look at the total picture. 99/100 the person you buy this for is never going to have been given anything like these. The total package I think justifies the 30 pounds. You're buying more than just the cakes.
One of those Hurry Bunny in a big pool of cold runny cream would just go down a treat.
Bailey's & walnuts? Now that's a combination I have never heard of before. I'd love to see other companies trying to make something with Bailey's & walnuts - it sounds great!
These appear to be a slightly different shape than the mad hatters.
I think I would have too much trouble choosing, I'd have to get them all in "tiny pieces of wonderland" format, and try not to finish them in one go
Hi All,
Wow the price issue is almost dominating everything again today. I can't say I blame any of you being sensitive to it. I personally wouldn't ever see myself buying some cakes for £8.50 each unless they were something truly special.
Luckily for Lucky's ... :D :D I do think they are something special :D and I honestly would urge everyone to at the very least contemplate giving them a try before dismissing them totally just on price.
Regarding you all talking about the photographs today .... well quelle surprise my old man did indeed take these :D Seriously chap/chapesses you are going to have to stop bolstering this guys ego! He's starting to believe he could do this professionally (I think he probably could if he wanted - don't give him ideas!!).
CRAIG - There is a correlation between my parents having an interest in the site and my photographs improving ... go figure :D
KIM - That Choca Block is evil stuff! I urge you all to spurn buying it please :D
DAISY - Foodporn :D :D I also love that word.
STEPHEN - See the review from last Friday chap.
RICHARD - The chocolate is going to be very expensive and the manual labour putting them together will also have its costs. Still though, yes I imagine the profit margin is rather healthy.
COLIN - I believe they make them in small handmade batches. I hope someone from Lucky's can confirm this though.
ANDY - I will park my backside on this fence quite comfortably thank you very much :D
ANON - Request noted.
NIGEL - Of course I will be supporting Murray. I despise the attitude we get from the Scottish sometimes about them not wanting English people/teams to achieve sporting success but if you we just reciprocate then we are just as bad. I say come on Murray.
ANON - Even I might shy away at £900.00 each thank you.
HENNERS - See the news page for my reaction chap.
LISA - I haven't asked them about it yet. I will see what they say if they look at the site.
JASON - Different selections have had their stronger and weaker cakes. If I were you I would pick and choose the ones you like the sound of most and hope for the best :D
MICHAEL - I was all ready to answer you saying no you can't customise the package but by the looks of their site you can now. Thats a great thing for them to have done if you ask me. Customisation always goes down well with consumers.
KATIE - The cheeky one returns :D
ANA - It was an inspired combination I will give them that. It worked for me :D
RODDY - Good luck with that :D The pain of the financial outlay will soon be taken over by one of pure delight from your very first bite. You wont be able to stop yourself if these are your kind of thing.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I will give Luckys a nudge in the way of the review to see if they fancy answering some of these questions.
JIM
Hmm I have to agree with everyone, that price would be disproportionate for any cake...even ahem my own ;) I could only justify it by 1) doing a group order and then sharing them divided up 2) winning them in a cough*JCM*cough Lucky's competition :D
PS lol right before reading this I bought some ice cream from Tesco... it's not my fault some ice cream makers persist in using eggs now, is it?
I Iove Baileys but oddly I've never found any sort of chocolate/cake sort of thing where it has been used properly.
The baileys chocolate truffles you get in tesco are just awful. The chocolate tastes like it is straight out of an advent calendar. I never tried those irish cream mcvities cake you link to in the review but by the sounds of things they were never anything to shout about anyways.
I would be intrigued to see if these were more to my liking. Just not at that price though lol.
I should really be getting on with my work here but I can't stop looking at all these gorgeous looking cakes you are showing us here.
Are these real photos Jim or are they staged? They look so clear and perfect that I would of thought they would be taken be a pro food photographer. If they appear like this in real life you can colour me damn right impressed.
The running order for me to try these would be the Hurry Bunny then the Lazy Rabbut.
The coco rush wouldn't ever be one I would buy myself due to my dislike for coconut and dark chocolate lol.
Im cooking my g/f a birthday three course meal next week and im going to buy two of the Lazy Rabbit cakes for our desserts. Normally when I do this sort of thing I buy some of the GU puddings but shes a huge fan of Baileys and these look something just a little extra special. Thanks for showing these to us Jim. I wouldn't have ever found these if it wasn't for seeing them on here.
Can i change my mind about your best review of this year lol.
I was very impressed with the william curley bounty one you did last week but this one is nearing perfection.
Amazing photos and amazing write ups on each of the three cakes. Your descriptions are so precise I sometimes think I can taste what you are talking about lol. If only.
Thanks for this review Jim.
Jim these guys are gonna come from London right?
Are they like some of the other posh chocolate people and sell their chocolates in some of the up market retailers? If so where abouts might we be able to get some?
Are these supposed to be chocolates with cakes in? Or cakes that just happen to be covered in premium chocolate.
I would love to hear what luckys have to say about some of the comments people have left today. They didn't come on the blog last time did they.
The Good: blueberry, cake, yummy chocolate
The Bad: coconut (boooooo)
The Ugly: price (ridiculous!!!)
I would love to say I thought the good outweighed the ugly but the prices are just so incredibly dumb I can't say they do. Sort it out Luckys.
Im loving the way they do a cake for all the different kinds of chocolate. Doing that offers good variety straightaway and thats not even considering the fillings each of them have. The only issue I see with them is that they sound like they are pretty large but not easiest things to split apart. I can imagine they can be a pain the bum trying to split out with the thick chocolate.
Its hard to find things these days that are 100% unique but it has to be said that Luckys look like they can lay claim to this with these. Price aside they look like they have the full round package with these. You make a good point about them being a luxury cake brand and not an everyday one. Its a nonsense to compare them to anything other than other luxury cakes. Comparing them with the likes of anything made by mcvities etc is going to always be meaningless.
Considering packs of cakes in most supermarkets are £1 each at most these days I don't think its unreasonable for people to be complaining about the price of these today. If we just forget all that I think they do sound pretty tasty. I would be especially keen to try the coconut one based on your feedback on it.
I feel like I'm just repeating what everyone has said about these cakes the last few times they have cropped up. I've got no qualms with the look of the cakes at all - they look magnificent. It's 100% the price of them that is stopping me from buying them though.
I just cannot justify spending that much of money of cakes ever. It would seem like such an awful waste if I didn't like them. I got in a big enough strop when I spent 60 p on the caramel kit kat senses and didn't like it lol.
I've used Valrhona chocolate for baking before :) Lol I had no idea it was supposed to be such an award winning famous chocolate. Woops. The only reason I used it was because they had put loads of the bars on sale clearance in the reduced section. Normally I would just use the supermarket brand dark chocolate but they were selling these ridiculously cheap for like 40p each.
I thought you outdid yourself with your william curley photos last week Jim but these are just sensational. They are even better than the last lot of luckys cakes you did. The clarity of them is exceptional, you can see every detail of what they contain inside them.
I can imagine them doing a peanut butter one at some time. If they did milk chocolate + PB + honey cake I think that would be cool. I hope they read this.
I've been thinking about these and I just still don't get what these are trying to be? When or who are they for? It seems odd buying them for personal consumption, yet they aren't the sort of thing you would buy to celebrate a birthday or anything like that.
Instead of doing these small cakes they should make bigger ones so they can be used for birthdays or other special occasions.They look stunning, all they would need to do is increase the size of them considerably to be more than just single pieces and they got a credible product.
Jim are these stock photos or are they really ones of the cakes you took yourself?
If they are your own I can't tell you how impressed I am. That goes for you as a photographer and Lucky's for making such outstanding cakes.
I know people are banding this term around a lot recently but this is my review of the year easily. The way you write about them is only superseeded by the amazing looking photos that go alongside. Excellent work my friend.
Do they change round the flavours of these often? I like the look of the concept they got going on just not the flavours.
THEA - You might be pleased to know I have a competition starting up next week. Keep an eye on the twitter feed ;)
CLAIRE - See what I said RE: Photos above.
BANKSY - I hope you enjoy them. Let me know how they go down.
TEL - Thanks for the nice words chap.
ANON - They do indeed hail from London. They sell their cakes at random foot festivals but not shops. I would suggest ordering online from them.
ROBIN - Well they use Valrhona here for baking purposes so its not unheard of.
DAVID - I think they are meant for special occasions. I think they would be a terrific gift for anyone myself. They are undoubtedly pricey, but something a little different and special they definitely fulfil those requirements.
BUNCEY - They seem to change up the flavours every now and then. They just created these three new ones after all.
Thanks for the comments everyone. You were all so kind about the photography - my old man will probably never let me hear the end of it :D
JIM
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